What's your highlight? 💡 #131

By Ross Chapman • Issue #131 • View online

I’m quite far into Make Time. Aside from taking distractions off my phone (haven’t quite taken Instagram off, and likely won’t), and bulldozing my calendar, what I have really found useful is the highlight, if anything, for my wellbeing.

Yesterday, I had two strong contenders: Cycling with Nathan into the studio, or running with Tim at lunch.

Today, my highlight is going to be getting an article written .

It’s such a simple concept and especially useful if you find life a struggle at the moment. A highlight is very personal, but it could be:

reading a good book before bed 📕
getting that application submitted ✉️
meeting up with a pal ☕️

Just having one thing to look forward to is only one side of it. Looking back at that one thing is also very comforting. It reminds me that I have purpose and I’m not always being pushed and pulled, I get to make time for what I think is important to me.

Thank you for reading and I hope you’re keeping warm and motivated as the seasons change 🍂

-Ross

Also, I’m running training events for people wanting to learn how to run design sprints. More info here.

Product design 👨‍💻

Design Sprint Meetup

I’m running an evening design sprint casual meetup in London where you can come, socialise and we’ll also run the Lightning Decision Jam ⚡️ - a better way to start solving problems and turn meetings into workshops.

See you there!

www.facebook.com • Share

Throw away your frequently asked questions

This week say World Usability Day and fellow Etcher Amy Grinstead wants to help you make the world a better place by banishing FAQs. For good.

www.etchuk.com • Share

Growth 📈

Our book launch was botched and it’s been crazy at work trying to fix it

“But when we saw the final book, our hearts sank. This wasn’t right. The book wasn’t the same format. It was taller, so the dimensions were off. And the translation of our design was a complete hack job. It wasn’t even centered on the page!”

I totally get this. My latest Etch stickers were way too big, but you’ve just got to keep prototyping and moving to learn.

m.signalvnoise.com • Share

10 Free Growth Hacking Tools to Boost Sales

I truly believe that one of my first hires in Etch Sprints will be a growth hacker. There are so many useful tools out there and just putting a few of them together can really reap rewards in not just business awareness but creating incoming opportunities. Favourite tool at the moment for me: Calendly. Every so often, a new email comes into my inbox from someone requesting a meeting. So awesome!

And if you want to have a chat and try out the tool, you can see my calendar here: https://calendly.com/etchsprints

www.business2community.com • Share

Cycling 🚴

Cargobikes Not Drones Are The Future For Urban Deliveries

Carlton ain’t crazy! Yesterday morning, Nathan and I rode from Romsey to Southampton and by all accounts were quicker than taking the car.

www.forbes.com • Share

Kendal Mountain Festival 2018: What Not to Miss

With so much going on over Kendal Mountain Festival weekend, here’s a round up of what not to miss.

www.alpkit.com • Share

Coolness 😎

Fables of Faubus: Retrospective monograph of work by British documentary photographer Paul Reas

Some of these photos are just fantastic.

www.creativeboom.com • Share

Instagram Can’t Hide Behind Facebook Anymore

I spend quite a big of time on Instagram. What I do like with Facebook’s strategy, is that they’ve left it well alone (on the face of it!). They didn’t strip it for parts and then let it finish it off (ahem Google Inbox), or take something good and take it away (ahem Microsoft and Sunrise calendar). They’ve listened, iterated and listened again.

This article talks more about the ad revenue, which, from an app that you can really only engage with on your phone and is always with you, makes for some interesting strategy insights.

medium.com • Share

Here's to looking forward to and remembering that highlight!

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By Ross Chapman

A weekly 💌 of Design Sprints, Product Design, Strategy and Coolness from @rosschapman ⚡️

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